Luggage items, such as soft side suitcases, may include wire or extruded plastic reinforcement beads, honeycomb boards and/or other reinforcing panels as shape retaining structures and anchor plates for components, such as wheels and handles. A soft material, such as fabric, is wrapped around the shape retaining structure and joined thereto by sewing. Such construction of luggage articles presents a particular unique challenge. Specifically, the shape retaining structures and anchor plates have to be robust enough to form the shape of the luggage article especially under heavy loading of the luggage article. On the other hand, the shape retaining structures and anchor plates must also be light and compact so as to maximize the weight and volume that the luggage article can carry. Further, the shape retaining structures and anchor plates must also be simple to assemble and relatively cheap to produce to minimize cost.
Another challenge that has been identified with conventional soft side luggage construction is the high labor input and material cost involved because various pieces of fabric materials are first joined along the edges thereof and then turned inside out for assembly. Such construction also makes it difficult to create a straight finish.
Documents that may be related to the present disclosure in that they include various approaches to luggage construction include CA 2447113, GB2339679B, U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,010, U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,157, U.S. Pat. No. 7,861,834B2, US2004/0079604A1, US20070045071, US2006/0249344A1, and US2012/0247897A1. These proposals, however, may be improved.
It is therefore desirable to provide an improved luggage construction, in particular an improved luggage frame structure, which addresses the above described problems and/or which more generally offers improvements or an alternative to existing luggage structures and construction methods.